WALACHIA Foundation of the Principality.—Tradition, as embodied in a native chronicle of the i 6th century, entitled the History of the Roman Land since the arrival of the Rumans (Istoria tierei Ro mdnesci de candii au descalicata Romanii), gives a precise account, which has probably at least a background of historical truth, of the founding of the Walachian state by Radu Negru, or Rudolf the Black (otherwise known as Negru Voda, the Black Prince), voivode of the Rumans of Fagaras in Transylvania, who in 1290 descended with a numerous people into the Transalpine plain and established his capital first at Campulung and then at Curtea de Arges. Radu (who died in 131o) was a vassal of the king of Hun gary; but his successor, who is presumed to be his son, John Bassaraba, or Bassarab the Great (1310-38) defeated his suzerain king Charles I. of Hungary in 133o, and made Walachia com pletely independent. His son Alexander Bassarab (1338-6o) main tained and consolidated this position; but Vladislav (136o-74), although again defeating the Hungarians (1369) accepted Hun garian suzerainty in return for investiture with the banat of Severin and the duchy of Omlas.
Mircea the Great (1386-1418) allied himself with King Ladis laus of Poland and extended his power over the Dobrudja. After the defeat of Serbia at Kosovo (1389), where a Walachian con tingent had assisted the Serbs, Mircea was forced to pay tribute to the Sultan, whom, however, he defeated in 1394. Allying him self with Hungary (1395), he failed to support his ally at the battle of Nikopolis (1396) and was deposed by his son Vlad, who accepted Polish suzerainty. Mircea returned, re-established, and for a time increased, his power by exploiting the internecine quar rels between the sons of the Sultan Bayezid. In 1411, however, Mohammed II. made Walachia tributary to the Turks, while leav ing intact its dynasty, territorial integrity and Christian religion.
Relations with Hungary and Turkey.—The succeeding period is one of intestine strife and shifting foreign policy. The only notable figure among the voivodes of Walachia was that of Vlad V. "the impaler" (1455-62 and 1476-7), a creature of the Sultan's. The stories of the cruelty of this savage (himself the
son of Vlad III., "the devil") surpass belief. Vlad's ferocity frightened even the Turks, whom he defied for some years before they deposed him in favour of Radu the Fair (1462-75). Most of the voivodes of Walachia were, however, only able to maintain a very precarious independence by "fawning alternately on the Turks, the Tatars, the Poles and the Hungarians." The elections to the throne, though often controlled by the Divan, were still nominally in the hands of the factious native boyars, and the princes followed each other in rapid succession, often meeting violent ends. The state of the country was still primitive, the people largely pastoral, the cottages built of clay and wattle. Only the capital, Tirgovistea, was a considerable town of stone.
A temporary improvement took place under Neagu Bassarab (1512-21), who founded the cathedrals of Curtea de Arges (q.v.) and Tirgovistea and many monasteries, and adorned Mount Athos with his pious works. He transferred the direct allegiance of the Walachian Church from the patriarchate of Ochrida in Macedonia to that of Constantinople. On his death, however, the Turkish commander, Mahmud Bey, seized and imprisoned his young son and successor, and nominated Turkish governors in the towns and villages of Walachia. The Walachians resisted desperately, elected Radu, a kinsman of Neagu, voivode, defeated Mahmud Bey with Hungarian help, at Grumatz in 1522, and secured recognition of Radu in 1524; but the battle of Mohacs in 1526 decided the long preponderance of Turkish control. The unfortunate province served as a transit route for Turkish expeditions against Hungary and Transylvania, and was exhausted by continual requisitions. The voivode Alexander, who succeeded in 1591, and like his prede cessors had bought his post of the Divan, carried the oppression still further by introducing a janissary guard and farming out his possessions to his Turkish supporters, and again it seemed as if Walachia must succumb to the direct government of the Ottoman.